When I was teaching, I had a typical day with all of the other teachers that was based on 7 50 minute periods. Most courses we taught were Semester courses, 90 days. In my typical schedule I would teach 2-4 Ceramics classes, 2 computer animation courses(year long) and usually 2 Art 1 classes to fill out a 6 period day with 1 period for preparation. We started the day at 7:30, reporting room was at 7:55 to 8:10, and we had a 30 minute duty free lunch. However, were expected to be back at our posts 5 minutes before the next class. If for some reason we did not have a 6 period schedule, we would have a hall patrol, or study hall to cover. I preferred to teach 6 periods. The day ended at 2:55 for the students and 3:05 for staff. I never got out of the building before 4, and most time not before 6.

Towards the end of my career, with a new principal I found that I had 5 classes and no assignments. After inquiring, I was informed that the principal would have me doing some jobs for her. I ended up redoing the floor plans of the entire 2 building complex for the Emergency Plan, as these had not been updated in 25 years, and many changes had been made. All of this was done on the computer in a drawing program-part of my expertise. Over the last 3 or four years I did signs for cafeterias, brochures for various functions, designed logos for school entities, and many other projects related to my skills. I also built sets for the Drama club after school in the Fall and Spring. This usually took all of my evening time getting me home around 10pm several months out of the year.

I teach on M and W and teach one course from 9-11:30 and then another from 1:00-3:30. I have a sort of friend who gives me crap for how "little" I work.. I actually hate her passive aggressive way of comparing me to how hard her husband works. So my official schedule is that. But of course there are committee meetings, faculty meetings, faculty senate meetings, search committees, meetings with advisees, mentoring student clubs and yes teaching is going on all the time outside of official class time, helping with firings, collection of wood for wood kiln, splitting wood, stacking wood, taking students to gallery openings, it depends on what people consider teaching. I also have graduate students which adds to the load more than one would think. So add it up along with what I need to do for my work as a professional in the media, I guess you could say I am almost always working. Plus I do get to have other fun other than making work with clay. Like kayaking, playing music, playing with my kids.... Teaching in a HS setting is of course even more demanding. So I guess there really is no standard day for me. But I love every minute of it... OOOPs no I don't.. don't like meetings...

STEPHEN ROBISON
Head of Ceramics, Central Washington University
Ellensburg WA

My first, and current teaching jobs, were both on a block schedule, which is AWESOME, for art. There are four classes (blocks) a day, that are eighty minutes each. We also have a "Seminar" time, around lunch, which is kind of like a homeroom. The Seminar is only about forty five minutes long. We have Semesters, but each one is equivalent to a year on an eight period day. So my classes are only on Term (Half a Semester) each. It's good and bad. Sometimes you have students, I'd like to keep, others, I don't mind having move on.
Our contract day is from 7:45-3:45. I'm usually there from 7:30-4:00, longer if I have Art Club that afternoon. We do have a couple morning meetings a month, which start at 7:30, and also have some "Early Outs", where we have meetings around 1:00, when the students have gone. Honestly, in the short time I have been teaching, it seems they have added more and more required meetings. We've gotta prove, to the politicians and general public, that we actually do work right?
We have a twenty minute lunch, which is one reason I eat in my room. That's the bad news, but the good news is, we have a full block prep. Eighty minutes to plan, is fantastic. I can actually get things done. Eighty minutes to plan for three other classes is amazing, compared to forty minutes to plan for six classes on an eight period.

In terms of extra duties, there are no study halls, other than Seminar, which isn't bad, as we have the same group of kids every day. My second teaching job was on an eight period day, and we'd have a random study hall a couple times a week. Mine were in another teacher's room, so I'd have to go up there, and couldn't really take any of my work with me. On top of that, I didn't know any of the kids, and didn't have much time to get to know them. This made discipline difficult.
Each teacher has lunchroom supervision in the mornings for two weeks a year. Nothing much to it, make sure they behave themselves, clean up and keep them in the lunchroom area, until a certain time (so they aren't roaming the halls before school).
Each teacher is also expected to work two sporting event/ activities each year (Taking tickets, scoreboard, etc). I work the chains at football games, because it's good fun.

So obviously, I prefer my block scheduling, over the eight period. It's less work and stress for both students and teachers.

My first, and current teaching jobs, were both on a block schedule, which is AWESOME, for art. There are four classes (blocks) a day, that are eighty minutes each. We also have a "Seminar" time, around lunch, which is kind of like a homeroom. The Seminar is only about forty five minutes long. We have Semesters, but each one is equivalent to a year on an eight period day. So my classes are only on Term (Half a Semester) each. It's good and bad. Sometimes you have students, I'd like to keep, others, I don't mind having move on.Our contract day is from 7:45-3:45. I'm usually there from 7:30-4:00, longer if I have Art Club that afternoon. We do have a couple morning meetings a month, which start at 7:30, and also have some "Early Outs", where we have meetings around 1:00, when the students have gone. Honestly, in the short time I have been teaching, it seems they have added more and more required meetings. We've gotta prove, to the politicians and general public, that we actually do work right?We have a twenty minute lunch, which is one reason I eat in my room. That's the bad news, but the good news is, we have a full block prep. Eighty minutes to plan, is fantastic. I can actually get things done. Eighty minutes to plan for three other classes is amazing, compared to forty minutes to plan for six classes on an eight period.

In terms of extra duties, there are no study halls, other than Seminar, which isn't bad, as we have the same group of kids every day. My second teaching job was on an eight period day, and we'd have a random study hall a couple times a week. Mine were in another teacher's room, so I'd have to go up there, and couldn't really take any of my work with me. On top of that, I didn't know any of the kids, and didn't have much time to get to know them. This made discipline difficult. Each teacher has lunchroom supervision in the mornings for two weeks a year. Nothing much to it, make sure they behave themselves, clean up and keep them in the lunchroom area, until a certain time (so they aren't roaming the halls before school).Each teacher is also expected to work two sporting event/ activities each year (Taking tickets, scoreboard, etc). I work the chains at football games, because it's good fun.

So obviously, I prefer my block scheduling, over the eight period. It's less work and stress for both students and teachers.

We had talked about block scheduling at the HS for years. However, the administration had a strange take on it. They wanted to run the arts as a regular schedule with staggered blocks where the arts would take students at odd times. Our classes would be still 55 minutes or close. I consistently voted no to the plan when it was voted on because of this aspect. It would have killed us.

It looks like most of us teaching the arts are doing much more than the public knows about. The college professors have so much involvement with keeping the studios running and in shape, along with all of the meetings and such. School teachers seem to be the privates in a district doing many odd jobs that don't have a label.

My first, and current teaching jobs, were both on a block schedule, which is AWESOME, for art. There are four classes (blocks) a day, that are eighty minutes each. We also have a "Seminar" time, around lunch, which is kind of like a homeroom. The Seminar is only about forty five minutes long. We have Semesters, but each one is equivalent to a year on an eight period day. So my classes are only on Term (Half a Semester) each. It's good and bad. Sometimes you have students, I'd like to keep, others, I don't mind having move on.Our contract day is from 7:45-3:45. I'm usually there from 7:30-4:00, longer if I have Art Club that afternoon. We do have a couple morning meetings a month, which start at 7:30, and also have some "Early Outs", where we have meetings around 1:00, when the students have gone. Honestly, in the short time I have been teaching, it seems they have added more and more required meetings. We've gotta prove, to the politicians and general public, that we actually do work right?We have a twenty minute lunch, which is one reason I eat in my room. That's the bad news, but the good news is, we have a full block prep. Eighty minutes to plan, is fantastic. I can actually get things done. Eighty minutes to plan for three other classes is amazing, compared to forty minutes to plan for six classes on an eight period.

In terms of extra duties, there are no study halls, other than Seminar, which isn't bad, as we have the same group of kids every day. My second teaching job was on an eight period day, and we'd have a random study hall a couple times a week. Mine were in another teacher's room, so I'd have to go up there, and couldn't really take any of my work with me. On top of that, I didn't know any of the kids, and didn't have much time to get to know them. This made discipline difficult. Each teacher has lunchroom supervision in the mornings for two weeks a year. Nothing much to it, make sure they behave themselves, clean up and keep them in the lunchroom area, until a certain time (so they aren't roaming the halls before school).Each teacher is also expected to work two sporting event/ activities each year (Taking tickets, scoreboard, etc). I work the chains at football games, because it's good fun.

So obviously, I prefer my block scheduling, over the eight period. It's less work and stress for both students and teachers.

We had talked about block scheduling at the HS for years. However, the administration had a strange take on it. They wanted to run the arts as a regular schedule with staggered blocks where the arts would take students at odd times. Our classes would be still 55 minutes or close. I consistently voted no to the plan when it was voted on because of this aspect. It would have killed us.

It looks like most of us teaching the arts are doing much more than the public knows about. The college professors have so much involvement with keeping the studios running and in shape, along with all of the meetings and such. School teachers seem to be the privates in a district doing many odd jobs that don't have a label.

How is the In-service time handled in your district?

The high school I attended, instituted block scheduling, my Freshmen year. So I have experience on both sides. However, they have recently gone back to eight period. The reason, their math scores are low, and they blame the block. Because students could have a full year in between math classes, they went away from the block, in hopes that could bring their scores up. I'm not saying, there isn't some validity to that idea, but it's not like there aren't other factors behind the low scores. In my first teaching job, the reading and vocab scores were low, for one of the grade levels. Our professional development that year focused on incorporating those things into our classes. It didn't really help. So instead, we did an informational campaign of sorts. We told those students, "You need to try on the tests. If you don't, the state will come in and basically tell us, how to run classes, or you could be required to take a remedial class for no credit." Guess what, they more than met proficiency. Before I left that district, they were talking about going away from the block, for budget reasons. They thought on an eight period, they could have fewer teachers teach more classes. They did a two year study, to see if the block was still effective, and are to my knowledge, still with it.

My support of the block can probably best be explained by the experience at my second teaching job. My second semester there, with an eight period day, I had four Photography classes. Each class had sixteen students. I had twelve 35mm cameras. So not only did students have to share cameras in class, they had to share them with the other classes. If a student was shooting that day, they had to go through a roll, by the end of the period, so the camera would be available for the next class. On top of that, I had five enlargers. So towards the end of the semester, the end of the day was insanely busy, as students were rushing to finish all of their photos. As I mentioned in other topics, my prep time, consisted of me mixing chemicals and cutting paper. No compare that to my current job with a block schedule. I have a Photography or Advanced Photography class, each term, so four terms. That means I can, and do, have four sections of Photography a year, just like on an eight period schedule. The only difference, is that I only have one of those four sets of students, at a time. I don't have to worry about them sharing cameras, and I have more space in the darkroom. On top of that, I can just cut a few sheets of paper at a time, and be good to go for a while. Plus there is a lot less chemical contamination, and usage, with smaller groups.

Well, that was a tangent.

Anyway, Pres, a little more about our Professional Development. Of the three schools I've been at, morning meetings kind of became the norm. Usually they started at 7:30, but my second school, had a few that would start at 7:15. That was horrible, especially since I commuted a ways to get there. The Professional Development at the first school was all over the place. Usually what we started on year, was abandoned for something else the next. I mentioned the incorporation of reading and vocab above, and those topics maybe lasted for two or three years. My last year with that district, we had three or four different Professional Development activities we were doing. NO ONE could keep track of what we were supposed to be doing at each meeting. One of them was headed by one of the science teachers, who is very knowledgeable, and a nice person, but horribly unorganized and unable to communicate expectations. On top of the morning meetings, we would have two hour early outs for meetings, and a couple all day PD days, sometimes with other districts. It was nice collaborating with the other districts, but much of what we learned was interesting at best, pointless at worst.

For the second school it was kind of the same set up. Morning meetings, but never any early outs for PD. Instead, they'd alternate the 7:15 meetings for us staying after until 4:30. Once again, I was commuting, so that was unpleasant. We also had a couple all day PD meetings there. Those focused on the idea of "No Zeroes". An idea, they just wanted us to think about, yet didn't hesitate to cram it down our throats.....it was implemented the next year....

At my current district, we have morning PD meetings every other Tuesday at 7:30. We also have two hour early outs for meetings as well. Last year and this year, we have two different PD activities we are doing. Collaborative Learning Teams (CLTs) and whatever else the district wants to focus on. Four our CLTs we are in content area groups. Last year, they put us visual arts folks with the band and music folks. This year, the band and music folks wanted to do their own thing, which was fine. So it's me and the middle school/ elementary teacher this year. Each CLT, picks an aspect about their area, they want to focus on. Last year, we looked at, how the Fine Arts students performed on standardized tests, compared to non-fine arts. From our research, the answer is , a bit better. This year, the visual arts are trying to create a unified arts curriculum for the district. For the district PD, we seem to be moving towards standards based grading. So we are making "Power Standards" that students will be graded on. One thing I love, about the PD here, is we can get a re-certification or graduate credit for our PDs. The other schools I taught at, this wasn't an option. We had to do the PD, and earn re-certification credits on our own time.

I hope this long winded explanation is what you were asking Pres. I've got plenty of time today. No school, because of snow, and I'm not touching the drive/ walkways until the snow stops and the plows have gone by.

It looks like most of us teaching the arts are doing much more than the public knows about. The college professors have so much involvement with keeping the studios running and in shape, along with all of the meetings and such. School teachers seem to be the privates in a district doing many odd jobs that don't have a label.

I read the stuff you HS folks deal with and feel VERY lucky that I teach at the college level. But that is one reason that I DO teach at the college level....... I couldn't deal with all that stuff :wacko:src="http://ceramicartsda...lt/wacko.gif">.My hat is off to you all.

Yeah... you got it right, Pres. The average public has no clue what formal teachers (any level) really do.

At the collegate level it is the time outside the formal classroom that really adds up (if you are keeping track....whjich can be depressing). Some weeks I think I spend as much time outside of the formal class times meeting with students one-on-one or responding to individual's emails as I do in the formal classes. Of course there are general studio upkeep, moving wares around for firings, and such that are "only" minutes here and minutes there... and suddenly they are hours here and hours there, and then they are days here and there. Then there are the all-college faculty meetings, department faculty meetings, committee work, atending openings, attending commencement, and so on.

My first, and current teaching jobs, were both on a block schedule, which is AWESOME, for art. There are four classes (blocks) a day, that are eighty minutes each. We also have a "Seminar" time, around lunch, which is kind of like a homeroom. The Seminar is only about forty five minutes long. We have Semesters, but each one is equivalent to a year on an eight period day. So my classes are only on Term (Half a Semester) each. It's good and bad. Sometimes you have students, I'd like to keep, others, I don't mind having move on.Our contract day is from 7:45-3:45. I'm usually there from 7:30-4:00, longer if I have Art Club that afternoon. We do have a couple morning meetings a month, which start at 7:30, and also have some "Early Outs", where we have meetings around 1:00, when the students have gone. Honestly, in the short time I have been teaching, it seems they have added more and more required meetings. We've gotta prove, to the politicians and general public, that we actually do work right?We have a twenty minute lunch, which is one reason I eat in my room. That's the bad news, but the good news is, we have a full block prep. Eighty minutes to plan, is fantastic. I can actually get things done. Eighty minutes to plan for three other classes is amazing, compared to forty minutes to plan for six classes on an eight period.

In terms of extra duties, there are no study halls, other than Seminar, which isn't bad, as we have the same group of kids every day. My second teaching job was on an eight period day, and we'd have a random study hall a couple times a week. Mine were in another teacher's room, so I'd have to go up there, and couldn't really take any of my work with me. On top of that, I didn't know any of the kids, and didn't have much time to get to know them. This made discipline difficult. Each teacher has lunchroom supervision in the mornings for two weeks a year. Nothing much to it, make sure they behave themselves, clean up and keep them in the lunchroom area, until a certain time (so they aren't roaming the halls before school).Each teacher is also expected to work two sporting event/ activities each year (Taking tickets, scoreboard, etc). I work the chains at football games, because it's good fun.

So obviously, I prefer my block scheduling, over the eight period. It's less work and stress for both students and teachers.

We had talked about block scheduling at the HS for years. However, the administration had a strange take on it. They wanted to run the arts as a regular schedule with staggered blocks where the arts would take students at odd times. Our classes would be still 55 minutes or close. I consistently voted no to the plan when it was voted on because of this aspect. It would have killed us.

It looks like most of us teaching the arts are doing much more than the public knows about. The college professors have so much involvement with keeping the studios running and in shape, along with all of the meetings and such. School teachers seem to be the privates in a district doing many odd jobs that don't have a label.

How is the In-service time handled in your district?

The high school I attended, instituted block scheduling, my Freshmen year. So I have experience on both sides. However, they have recently gone back to eight period. The reason, their math scores are low, and they blame the block. Because students could have a full year in between math classes, they went away from the block, in hopes that could bring their scores up. I'm not saying, there isn't some validity to that idea, but it's not like there aren't other factors behind the low scores. In my first teaching job, the reading and vocab scores were low, for one of the grade levels. Our professional development that year focused on incorporating those things into our classes. It didn't really help. So instead, we did an informational campaign of sorts. We told those students, "You need to try on the tests. If you don't, the state will come in and basically tell us, how to run classes, or you could be required to take a remedial class for no credit." Guess what, they more than met proficiency. Before I left that district, they were talking about going away from the block, for budget reasons. They thought on an eight period, they could have fewer teachers teach more classes. They did a two year study, to see if the block was still effective, and are to my knowledge, still with it.

My support of the block can probably best be explained by the experience at my second teaching job. My second semester there, with an eight period day, I had four Photography classes. Each class had sixteen students. I had twelve 35mm cameras. So not only did students have to share cameras in class, they had to share them with the other classes. If a student was shooting that day, they had to go through a roll, by the end of the period, so the camera would be available for the next class. On top of that, I had five enlargers. So towards the end of the semester, the end of the day was insanely busy, as students were rushing to finish all of their photos. As I mentioned in other topics, my prep time, consisted of me mixing chemicals and cutting paper. No compare that to my current job with a block schedule. I have a Photography or Advanced Photography class, each term, so four terms. That means I can, and do, have four sections of Photography a year, just like on an eight period schedule. The only difference, is that I only have one of those four sets of students, at a time. I don't have to worry about them sharing cameras, and I have more space in the darkroom. On top of that, I can just cut a few sheets of paper at a time, and be good to go for a while. Plus there is a lot less chemical contamination, and usage, with smaller groups.

Well, that was a tangent.

Anyway, Pres, a little more about our Professional Development. Of the three schools I've been at, morning meetings kind of became the norm. Usually they started at 7:30, but my second school, had a few that would start at 7:15. That was horrible, especially since I commuted a ways to get there. The Professional Development at the first school was all over the place. Usually what we started on year, was abandoned for something else the next. I mentioned the incorporation of reading and vocab above, and those topics maybe lasted for two or three years. My last year with that district, we had three or four different Professional Development activities we were doing. NO ONE could keep track of what we were supposed to be doing at each meeting. One of them was headed by one of the science teachers, who is very knowledgeable, and a nice person, but horribly unorganized and unable to communicate expectations. On top of the morning meetings, we would have two hour early outs for meetings, and a couple all day PD days, sometimes with other districts. It was nice collaborating with the other districts, but much of what we learned was interesting at best, pointless at worst.

For the second school it was kind of the same set up. Morning meetings, but never any early outs for PD. Instead, they'd alternate the 7:15 meetings for us staying after until 4:30. Once again, I was commuting, so that was unpleasant. We also had a couple all day PD meetings there. Those focused on the idea of "No Zeroes". An idea, they just wanted us to think about, yet didn't hesitate to cram it down our throats.....it was implemented the next year....

At my current district, we have morning PD meetings every other Tuesday at 7:30. We also have two hour early outs for meetings as well. Last year and this year, we have two different PD activities we are doing. Collaborative Learning Teams (CLTs) and whatever else the district wants to focus on. Four our CLTs we are in content area groups. Last year, they put us visual arts folks with the band and music folks. This year, the band and music folks wanted to do their own thing, which was fine. So it's me and the middle school/ elementary teacher this year. Each CLT, picks an aspect about their area, they want to focus on. Last year, we looked at, how the Fine Arts students performed on standardized tests, compared to non-fine arts. From our research, the answer is , a bit better. This year, the visual arts are trying to create a unified arts curriculum for the district. For the district PD, we seem to be moving towards standards based grading. So we are making "Power Standards" that students will be graded on. One thing I love, about the PD here, is we can get a re-certification or graduate credit for our PDs. The other schools I taught at, this wasn't an option. We had to do the PD, and earn re-certification credits on our own time.

I hope this long winded explanation is what you were asking Pres. I've got plenty of time today. No school, because of snow, and I'm not touching the drive/ walkways until the snow stops and the plows have gone by.

Excellent, it gives me an idea of where we were, and what is going on outside of this little plot of ground. Back when I was department chair for art which included 9 teachers Elementary, Junior and High School I was responsible for inservice programs for the year. I tried to get in a trip to a museum, and a workshop, and a visitation to another district along with the other stuff the admin decided was the hot topic. We did get PD credit for this towards the Act 80 180 hrs every five years. However, when the district decided to go to site based management, I basically went back to the classroom. Most inservices then were directed at state and federal hot topics, re-writing curriculum, textbook review among other things.

It looks like most of us teaching the arts are doing much more than the public knows about. The college professors have so much involvement with keeping the studios running and in shape, along with all of the meetings and such. School teachers seem to be the privates in a district doing many odd jobs that don't have a label.

I read the stuff you HS folks deal with and feel VERY lucky that I teach at the college level. But that is one reason that I DO teach at the college level....... I couldn't deal with all that stuff :wacko:src="http://ceramicartsda...lt/wacko.gif">.My hat is off to you all.

Yeah... you got it right, Pres. The average public has no clue what formal teachers (any level) really do.

At the collegate level it is the time outside the formal classroom that really adds up (if you are keeping track....whjich can be depressing). Some weeks I think I spend as much time outside of the formal class times meeting with students one-on-one or responding to individual's emails as I do in the formal classes. Of course there are general studio upkeep, moving wares around for firings, and such that are "only" minutes here and minutes there... and suddenly they are hours here and hours there, and then they are days here and there. Then there are the all-college faculty meetings, department faculty meetings, committee work, atending openings, attending commencement, and so on.

But that is why teachers in American society make the "big bucks" .

best,

................john

I used to love working with students in one on one situations. I think that is an aspect I would have liked about college, working with students and grad students in small groups or individually in a give and take environment.

I used to love working with students in one on one situations. I think that is an aspect I would have liked about college, working with students and grad students in small groups or individually in a give and take environment.

Me too. It is a pleaseure and a luxury that those in the K-12 arena don't usually get......... except maybe with the A.P. students. Or things like "Art Club". But people outside the academic community don't usually consider the time all of that takes for professors when you add up the multiple students. Everyone just thinks "Oh.... they usually only teach three classes two days a week. Cushy deal." And of course STUDIO classes in the art departrments usually meet twice as long contact hour wise as the academic classes.

All of us who teach, basically love teaching..... or we wouldn't do it.

I used to love working with students in one on one situations. I think that is an aspect I would have liked about college, working with students and grad students in small groups or individually in a give and take environment.

Me too. It is a pleaseure and a luxury that those in the K-12 arena don't usually get......... except maybe with the A.P. students. Or things like "Art Club". But people outside the academic community don't usually consider the time all of that takes for professors when you add up the multiple students. Everyone just thinks "Oh.... they usually only teach three classes two days a week. Cushy deal." And of course STUDIO classes in the art departrments usually meet twice as long contact hour wise as the academic classes.

All of us who teach, basically love teaching..... or we wouldn't do it.

Pres, I will say that I'm glad, that for the first time in my teaching career, I'm actually doing something, extremely worthwhile, in regards to my actual courses. The purpose of my CLT this year is to create a unified, consistent K-12 curriculum, so that we can build upon learning over the years. There really hasn't been any consistency. Both myself, and the Elementary/ Middle School teacher are fairly new to the district. This is only my second year, and he only has extra on me. The other Elementary teacher, has been in the district longer, but she is only part time art. So the students have had several teachers, at the different grade levels, over the years, and each teacher had a slightly different approach. For instance, the teacher I replaced, was in the process of converting our perfectly good darkroom, into a computer lab, as she wanted to go all digital, with the Photography classes. That was one of the first things, that I undid. Now here's something you will all find more shocking. She was previously the Elementary/ Middle School teacher, before moving up to High School for a year. She did no clay work, with the Elementary/ Middle School. And the year, she was at the High School, she did one coil project, despite the fact, we have a nice kiln, with five perfectly good wheels. The wheels had a nice layer of dust, not to mention paint splatters, on them, when I got there.

So the goal is, that by incorporating more media, and techniques, at the lower levels, I can offer more advanced techniques and projects, at the upper levels.

Of course, just because we write said curriculum, doesn't mean the other two teachers have to follow it. I can only control what I do right?

Benzine,Pres,John;O.K., I am going to try and jump in here. There is a lot of data to discuss and reply to.[dangling participle].As you all know, I am Canadian, but have a Masters degree from Alfred. The plan was to teach ceramics and have one on one discussions with my students. I began as a studio potter, but could not sustain the long solo hours in the studio.Teaching has been a great career for me. I am looking back on 27 years in the trenches.In Canada, education is a provincial mandate. This is a good thing as we currently have a Conservative prime minister, and if he could, he would cut the arts across the board and put the money into fighter jets.[CF18's]Our curriculum is set at the provincial level. We now have a combined curriculum with Music and Drama, which is nuts as we have nothing to do with them.My teaching day starts at 8:30 and finishes at 3:40.Used to be that classes ended at 3:00 and we had a study period from 3:00 until 3:30. GONE.The school had to introduce one extra class, so the school day was lengthened, and the lunch hour cut.We used to have 5, 75 minute periods, on a semester system. The lunch hour was 75 minutes, but it was also a teaching period, so you might find yourself teaching through the lunch hour. We now have a common lunch of 55 min., with no meetings allowed.Intra -murals,[sports], still happen at lunch.[I guess phys-ed teachers don't count.]My committee work consists of being the department head for Fine Art. There are 9 teachers in my group. I go to a once a month meeting at 7:15. I hate the time, but like the mtg., as I am with the leaders of the school. I get no extra pay for this, but Math, Eng.,Computers,Social Studies all get paid .They have more curriculum stuff than me.My group consists of 2 full time art teachers, 2 band, one drama, one musical theatre, guitar,the librarian!!!, and one other[dance].I have a home room group called "student advising", which I meet with about once a month. I stay with this group for four years-gr. 9-12. We discuss things like resume writing, careers, grad, etc., depending on which grade I am with at the time.Instead of coaching, I am the Work Place Health and Safety rep. for the school.I chose this, as I present at our monthly staff meetings on safety issues.One of my more famous topics was "Nothing Says Christmas like Bed Bugs."I only coached Varsity Girls Basketball once in my first year of teaching. Sadly, I know nothing of sports. I was the cool guy in school and didn't join any team sports. Who knew I would end up teaching!That's all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more.Tom.I forgot that I also built and paint sets for the school play. Last year it was the Wizard of Oz. I had to build a Kansa farm house, and the Emerald City.I like the challenge and the creativity, but man, the hours!T.

Benzine,Pres,John;O.K., I am going to try and jump in here. There is a lot of data to discuss and reply to.[dangling participle].As you all know, I am Canadian, but have a Masters degree from Alfred. The plan was to teach ceramics and have one on one discussions with my students. I began as a studio potter, but could not sustain the long solo hours in the studio.Teaching has been a great career for me. I am looking back on 27 years in the trenches.In Canada, education is a provincial mandate. This is a good thing as we currently have a Conservative prime minister, and if he could, he would cut the arts across the board and put the money into fighter jets.[CF18's]Our curriculum is set at the provincial level. We now have a combined curriculum with Music and Drama, which is nuts as we have nothing to do with them.My teaching day starts at 8:30 and finishes at 3:40.Used to be that classes ended at 3:00 and we had a study period from 3:00 until 3:30. GONE.The school had to introduce one extra class, so the school day was lengthened, and the lunch hour cut.We used to have 5, 75 minute periods, on a semester system. The lunch hour was 75 minutes, but it was also a teaching period, so you might find yourself teaching through the lunch hour. We now have a common lunch of 55 min., with no meetings allowed.Intra -murals,[sports], still happen at lunch.[I guess phys-ed teachers don't count.]My committee work consists of being the department head for Fine Art. There are 9 teachers in my group. I go to a once a month meeting at 7:15. I hate the time, but like the mtg., as I am with the leaders of the school. I get no extra pay for this, but Math, Eng.,Computers,Social Studies all get paid .They have more curriculum stuff than me.My group consists of 2 full time art teachers, 2 band, one drama, one musical theatre, guitar,the librarian!!!, and one other[dance].I have a home room group called "student advising", which I meet with about once a month. I stay with this group for four years-gr. 9-12. We discuss things like resume writing, careers, grad, etc., depending on which grade I am with at the time.Instead of coaching, I am the Work Place Health and Safety rep. for the school.I chose this, as I present at our monthly staff meetings on safety issues.One of my more famous topics was "Nothing Says Christmas like Bed Bugs."I only coached Varsity Girls Basketball once in my first year of teaching. Sadly, I know nothing of sports. I was the cool guy in school and didn't join any team sports. Who knew I would end up teaching!That's all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more.Tom.I forgot that I also built and paint sets for the school play. Last year it was the Wizard of Oz. I had to build a Kansa farm house, and the Emerald City.I like the challenge and the creativity, but man, the hours!T.

Wow, TJR quite a rundown. I have always wondered how things worked in Canada, and often would get chances to discuss this when camping. I love the Canadian east coast and camped all over Nova Scotia, New Brunswick an Newfoundland. Kitchen shelter conferences were always fun. Back to topi though, the Department chair thing seems to happen that way, I was paid a stipend to do DC based on the number of teachers under my charge. I was responsible for budget, curriculum, correspondence, Arts events, and coordination. For years I tried to get a unified curriculum in that would be progressive from K-12, but the admin really did not want to hear of it-they figured it meant more money-I think. At one time, we had two Junior Highs that taught completely different classes based on teacher preference. Now they have been combined to one-much better. However, from year to year you do not know what each school is doing, or should be doing. High school was a curriculum that included Art !, Art 2, Survey of Art, Jewelry and Metalcraft, Electronic Studio Arts(computer animation), Painting(watercolor), Sculpture, and Ceramics 1 & 2. Even under a written curriculum there would be times when a teacher would add in a new thing that became their pet, like paper marbling in a Painting course.

Yes, doing sets is a big challenge, I designed them on the computer using a Draw program, printed out the plans and followed them. Our stage had no wings, not backdrop situation. It was basically a lecture stage/concert hall. Most of my sets were on 4X8 trucks that wheeled in and out or turned for different scenes. Many hours of work with a straight show in the Fall, and a musical in the Spring. Did it for 12 years.

Benzine,Pres,John;O.K., I am going to try and jump in here. There is a lot of data to discuss and reply to.[dangling participle].As you all know, I am Canadian, but have a Masters degree from Alfred. The plan was to teach ceramics and have one on one discussions with my students. I began as a studio potter, but could not sustain the long solo hours in the studio.Teaching has been a great career for me. I am looking back on 27 years in the trenches.In Canada, education is a provincial mandate. This is a good thing as we currently have a Conservative prime minister, and if he could, he would cut the arts across the board and put the money into fighter jets.[CF18's]Our curriculum is set at the provincial level. We now have a combined curriculum with Music and Drama, which is nuts as we have nothing to do with them.My teaching day starts at 8:30 and finishes at 3:40.Used to be that classes ended at 3:00 and we had a study period from 3:00 until 3:30. GONE.The school had to introduce one extra class, so the school day was lengthened, and the lunch hour cut.We used to have 5, 75 minute periods, on a semester system. The lunch hour was 75 minutes, but it was also a teaching period, so you might find yourself teaching through the lunch hour. We now have a common lunch of 55 min., with no meetings allowed.Intra -murals,[sports], still happen at lunch.[I guess phys-ed teachers don't count.]My committee work consists of being the department head for Fine Art. There are 9 teachers in my group. I go to a once a month meeting at 7:15. I hate the time, but like the mtg., as I am with the leaders of the school. I get no extra pay for this, but Math, Eng.,Computers,Social Studies all get paid .They have more curriculum stuff than me.My group consists of 2 full time art teachers, 2 band, one drama, one musical theatre, guitar,the librarian!!!, and one other[dance].I have a home room group called "student advising", which I meet with about once a month. I stay with this group for four years-gr. 9-12. We discuss things like resume writing, careers, grad, etc., depending on which grade I am with at the time.Instead of coaching, I am the Work Place Health and Safety rep. for the school.I chose this, as I present at our monthly staff meetings on safety issues.One of my more famous topics was "Nothing Says Christmas like Bed Bugs."I only coached Varsity Girls Basketball once in my first year of teaching. Sadly, I know nothing of sports. I was the cool guy in school and didn't join any team sports. Who knew I would end up teaching!That's all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more.Tom.I forgot that I also built and paint sets for the school play. Last year it was the Wizard of Oz. I had to build a Kansa farm house, and the Emerald City.I like the challenge and the creativity, but man, the hours!T.

Wow, TJR quite a rundown. I have always wondered how things worked in Canada, and often would get chances to discuss this when camping. I love the Canadian east coast and camped all over Nova Scotia, New Brunswick an Newfoundland. Kitchen shelter conferences were always fun. Back to topi though, the Department chair thing seems to happen that way, I was paid a stipend to do DC based on the number of teachers under my charge. I was responsible for budget, curriculum, correspondence, Arts events, and coordination. For years I tried to get a unified curriculum in that would be progressive from K-12, but the admin really did not want to hear of it-they figured it meant more money-I think. At one time, we had two Junior Highs that taught completely different classes based on teacher preference. Now they have been combined to one-much better. However, from year to year you do not know what each school is doing, or should be doing. High school was a curriculum that included Art !, Art 2, Survey of Art, Jewelry and Metalcraft, Electronic Studio Arts(computer animation), Painting(watercolor), Sculpture, and Ceramics 1 & 2. Even under a written curriculum there would be times when a teacher would add in a new thing that became their pet, like paper marbling in a Painting course.

Yes, doing sets is a big challenge, I designed them on the computer using a Draw program, printed out the plans and followed them. Our stage had no wings, not backdrop situation. It was basically a lecture stage/concert hall. Most of my sets were on 4X8 trucks that wheeled in and out or turned for different scenes. Many hours of work with a straight show in the Fall, and a musical in the Spring. Did it for 12 years.

Pres;It depends on what the Drama teacher wants. We always try to reuse, but storage is an issue. It's difficult to convert Whoville into a Kansas prairie scene.I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We have 110,000 fresh water lakes. I have a cottage on Lake Winnipeg. Summers are great. If you get up this way, I'll cook you a cedar plank salmon.Tom.

Benzine,Pres,John;O.K., I am going to try and jump in here. There is a lot of data to discuss and reply to.[dangling participle].As you all know, I am Canadian, but have a Masters degree from Alfred. The plan was to teach ceramics and have one on one discussions with my students. I began as a studio potter, but could not sustain the long solo hours in the studio.Teaching has been a great career for me. I am looking back on 27 years in the trenches.In Canada, education is a provincial mandate. This is a good thing as we currently have a Conservative prime minister, and if he could, he would cut the arts across the board and put the money into fighter jets.[CF18's]Our curriculum is set at the provincial level. We now have a combined curriculum with Music and Drama, which is nuts as we have nothing to do with them.My teaching day starts at 8:30 and finishes at 3:40.Used to be that classes ended at 3:00 and we had a study period from 3:00 until 3:30. GONE.The school had to introduce one extra class, so the school day was lengthened, and the lunch hour cut.We used to have 5, 75 minute periods, on a semester system. The lunch hour was 75 minutes, but it was also a teaching period, so you might find yourself teaching through the lunch hour. We now have a common lunch of 55 min., with no meetings allowed.Intra -murals,[sports], still happen at lunch.[I guess phys-ed teachers don't count.]My committee work consists of being the department head for Fine Art. There are 9 teachers in my group. I go to a once a month meeting at 7:15. I hate the time, but like the mtg., as I am with the leaders of the school. I get no extra pay for this, but Math, Eng.,Computers,Social Studies all get paid .They have more curriculum stuff than me.My group consists of 2 full time art teachers, 2 band, one drama, one musical theatre, guitar,the librarian!!!, and one other[dance].I have a home room group called "student advising", which I meet with about once a month. I stay with this group for four years-gr. 9-12. We discuss things like resume writing, careers, grad, etc., depending on which grade I am with at the time.Instead of coaching, I am the Work Place Health and Safety rep. for the school.I chose this, as I present at our monthly staff meetings on safety issues.One of my more famous topics was "Nothing Says Christmas like Bed Bugs."I only coached Varsity Girls Basketball once in my first year of teaching. Sadly, I know nothing of sports. I was the cool guy in school and didn't join any team sports. Who knew I would end up teaching!That's all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more.Tom.I forgot that I also built and paint sets for the school play. Last year it was the Wizard of Oz. I had to build a Kansa farm house, and the Emerald City.I like the challenge and the creativity, but man, the hours!T.

Wow, TJR quite a rundown. I have always wondered how things worked in Canada, and often would get chances to discuss this when camping. I love the Canadian east coast and camped all over Nova Scotia, New Brunswick an Newfoundland. Kitchen shelter conferences were always fun. Back to topi though, the Department chair thing seems to happen that way, I was paid a stipend to do DC based on the number of teachers under my charge. I was responsible for budget, curriculum, correspondence, Arts events, and coordination. For years I tried to get a unified curriculum in that would be progressive from K-12, but the admin really did not want to hear of it-they figured it meant more money-I think. At one time, we had two Junior Highs that taught completely different classes based on teacher preference. Now they have been combined to one-much better. However, from year to year you do not know what each school is doing, or should be doing. High school was a curriculum that included Art !, Art 2, Survey of Art, Jewelry and Metalcraft, Electronic Studio Arts(computer animation), Painting(watercolor), Sculpture, and Ceramics 1 & 2. Even under a written curriculum there would be times when a teacher would add in a new thing that became their pet, like paper marbling in a Painting course.

Yes, doing sets is a big challenge, I designed them on the computer using a Draw program, printed out the plans and followed them. Our stage had no wings, not backdrop situation. It was basically a lecture stage/concert hall. Most of my sets were on 4X8 trucks that wheeled in and out or turned for different scenes. Many hours of work with a straight show in the Fall, and a musical in the Spring. Did it for 12 years.

Pres;It depends on what the Drama teacher wants. We always try to reuse, but storage is an issue. It's difficult to convert Whoville into a Kansas prairie scene.I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We have 110,000 fresh water lakes. I have a cottage on Lake Winnipeg. Summers are great. If you get up this way, I'll cook you a cedar plank salmon.Tom.

TJR, Canada, sounds a lot like the US, in terms of the educational system.....especially how the government, thinks schools should be able to get by with less money.

Pres, the curriculum that we are writing, will be open enough, to allow the teachers to change projects as they please, while still covering the content. I don't do the exact same projects, every time, I teach a class. I don't expect anyone else to either. What is surprising with the whole thing, when we started creating the curriculum last August, we looked for National Visual Arts Standards as a jump off point. It is hard to find any unified standards, for the visual arts. And at state level, they don't exist for me.

I haven't been asked to do anything with a play or musical yet. But my first year teaching, I was asked to be the Prom Sponsor. The principal, said he wanted someone "Artsy" to do it. I was young, and didn't know any better, so I agreed. It was usually pretty crazy for a few months in the spring, and I didn't get much sleep for a few days, during set up, but it was a little fun. The students were always eager to be on the committee, but they were glad to be done, by the end of it. They always asked, "How I could do this every year?" I told them, that if I didn't enjoy it, I would have stopped doing it long ago.

When I left my first district, I left the Prom Sponsoring behind. They asked me to do it, at my second districts, and I declined. At my current job, I have Art Club, which keeps me plenty busy on its own.

TJR, Canada, sounds a lot like the US, in terms of the educational system.....especially how the government, thinks schools should be able to get by with less money.

Pres, the curriculum that we are writing, will be open enough, to allow the teachers to change projects as they please, while still covering the content. I don't do the exact same projects, every time, I teach a class. I don't expect anyone else to either. What is surprising with the whole thing, when we started creating the curriculum last August, we looked for National Visual Arts Standards as a jump off point. It is hard to find any unified standards, for the visual arts. And at state level, they don't exist for me.

I haven't been asked to do anything with a play or musical yet. But my first year teaching, I was asked to be the Prom Sponsor. The principal, said he wanted someone "Artsy" to do it. I was young, and didn't know any better, so I agreed. It was usually pretty crazy for a few months in the spring, and I didn't get much sleep for a few days, during set up, but it was a little fun. The students were always eager to be on the committee, but they were glad to be done, by the end of it. They always asked, "How I could do this every year?" I told them, that if I didn't enjoy it, I would have stopped doing it long ago.

When I left my first district, I left the Prom Sponsoring behind. They asked me to do it, at my second districts, and I declined. At my current job, I have Art Club, which keeps me plenty busy on its own.

I never had a problem with doing different projects, as I would always change in an out to keep things fresh. My biggest problem was as and department chair where lateral expansion of curriculum would entail lateral expansion of a budget. When the department is limited to X amount of dollars, and one person expands their budget portion without staying in budget. . . . hmmmm.

TJR, Canada, sounds a lot like the US, in terms of the educational system.....especially how the government, thinks schools should be able to get by with less money.

Pres, the curriculum that we are writing, will be open enough, to allow the teachers to change projects as they please, while still covering the content. I don't do the exact same projects, every time, I teach a class. I don't expect anyone else to either. What is surprising with the whole thing, when we started creating the curriculum last August, we looked for National Visual Arts Standards as a jump off point. It is hard to find any unified standards, for the visual arts. And at state level, they don't exist for me.

I haven't been asked to do anything with a play or musical yet. But my first year teaching, I was asked to be the Prom Sponsor. The principal, said he wanted someone "Artsy" to do it. I was young, and didn't know any better, so I agreed. It was usually pretty crazy for a few months in the spring, and I didn't get much sleep for a few days, during set up, but it was a little fun. The students were always eager to be on the committee, but they were glad to be done, by the end of it. They always asked, "How I could do this every year?" I told them, that if I didn't enjoy it, I would have stopped doing it long ago.

When I left my first district, I left the Prom Sponsoring behind. They asked me to do it, at my second districts, and I declined. At my current job, I have Art Club, which keeps me plenty busy on its own.

I never had a problem with doing different projects, as I would always change in an out to keep things fresh. My biggest problem was as and department chair where lateral expansion of curriculum would entail lateral expansion of a budget. When the department is limited to X amount of dollars, and one person expands their budget portion without staying in budget. . . . hmmmm.

Luckily, I am the High School Art Department, so I'm the only one using the budget. The Middle School and Elementary buildings, have their own.

TJR, Canada, sounds a lot like the US, in terms of the educational system.....especially how the government, thinks schools should be able to get by with less money.

Pres, the curriculum that we are writing, will be open enough, to allow the teachers to change projects as they please, while still covering the content. I don't do the exact same projects, every time, I teach a class. I don't expect anyone else to either. What is surprising with the whole thing, when we started creating the curriculum last August, we looked for National Visual Arts Standards as a jump off point. It is hard to find any unified standards, for the visual arts. And at state level, they don't exist for me.

I haven't been asked to do anything with a play or musical yet. But my first year teaching, I was asked to be the Prom Sponsor. The principal, said he wanted someone "Artsy" to do it. I was young, and didn't know any better, so I agreed. It was usually pretty crazy for a few months in the spring, and I didn't get much sleep for a few days, during set up, but it was a little fun. The students were always eager to be on the committee, but they were glad to be done, by the end of it. They always asked, "How I could do this every year?" I told them, that if I didn't enjoy it, I would have stopped doing it long ago.

When I left my first district, I left the Prom Sponsoring behind. They asked me to do it, at my second districts, and I declined. At my current job, I have Art Club, which keeps me plenty busy on its own.

I never had a problem with doing different projects, as I would always change in an out to keep things fresh. My biggest problem was as and department chair where lateral expansion of curriculum would entail lateral expansion of a budget. When the department is limited to X amount of dollars, and one person expands their budget portion without staying in budget. . . . hmmmm.

Luckily, I am the High School Art Department, so I'm the only one using the budget. The Middle School and Elementary buildings, have their own.

TJR, Canada, sounds a lot like the US, in terms of the educational system.....especially how the government, thinks schools should be able to get by with less money.

Pres, the curriculum that we are writing, will be open enough, to allow the teachers to change projects as they please, while still covering the content. I don't do the exact same projects, every time, I teach a class. I don't expect anyone else to either. What is surprising with the whole thing, when we started creating the curriculum last August, we looked for National Visual Arts Standards as a jump off point. It is hard to find any unified standards, for the visual arts. And at state level, they don't exist for me.

I haven't been asked to do anything with a play or musical yet. But my first year teaching, I was asked to be the Prom Sponsor. The principal, said he wanted someone "Artsy" to do it. I was young, and didn't know any better, so I agreed. It was usually pretty crazy for a few months in the spring, and I didn't get much sleep for a few days, during set up, but it was a little fun. The students were always eager to be on the committee, but they were glad to be done, by the end of it. They always asked, "How I could do this every year?" I told them, that if I didn't enjoy it, I would have stopped doing it long ago.

When I left my first district, I left the Prom Sponsoring behind. They asked me to do it, at my second districts, and I declined. At my current job, I have Art Club, which keeps me plenty busy on its own.

I never had a problem with doing different projects, as I would always change in an out to keep things fresh. My biggest problem was as and department chair where lateral expansion of curriculum would entail lateral expansion of a budget. When the department is limited to X amount of dollars, and one person expands their budget portion without staying in budget. . . . hmmmm.

Luckily, I am the High School Art Department, so I'm the only one using the budget. The Middle School and Elementary buildings, have their own.

that is an easier way to do things, but can get awfully lonely.

My first teaching job, I was part of a two person department, which was great just getting into the profession, having someone else, with experience, int he department with me. Over the years though, we stopped seeing eye to eye, for various reasons. Budget cuts came, I had to go, they got to stay. My second job, was a role reversal. I started the same time, as the other teacher, but I was the "seasoned" veteran, they were the "newbie". We got along swimmingly, and one of the downsides to me leaving that district, was that I wouldn't get to work with them. At my current district, despite the fact I am the only high school teacher, I do see the middle school teacher every day. We get along well enough, despite some differences in opinion. So luckily, I've never been "Alone". I've always had someone, who understands the various aspect of art and teaching.